PHYSIOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALASIA. 



'359 



and the most characteristic of the native birds. In size and appearance they vary vry 

 greatly, from the little slender-billed blood-birds and spine-bills to the comparatively Jarge 

 friar-birds or leather-heads, wattle-birds and soldier-birds. 



The lyre-birds are large birds of pheasant-like shape (though really allied to the 

 perching birds, and not in any way to the pheasants), the males of which, in the case 

 of the Mcnura sitpcrba, have a graceful, lyre-shaped tail ; they are entirely confined to 

 Eastern Australia. The mound-birds, or scrub-turkeys, are a peculiar family of birds 

 belonging to the same order as that to which the domestic fowls and turkeys belong (the 

 Rasorcs), characterized by their very long toes, and the habit, which they alone among 

 birds exhibit, of burying their eggs among heaps of decomposing vegetable matter which 

 they have themselves brought together, the heat generated by the decomposing mass 

 serving to incubate the eggs. They extend from Australia to the neighbouring islands. 

 The emus and cassowaries are gigantic birds of the ostrich order, with heavy bodies 

 and very stout limbs, and with small 

 wings, which are useless for pur- 

 poses of flight ; they are confined 

 to the Australasian region, the 

 emus being restricted to the Aus- 

 tralian Continent. 



The ColitDibtc, or pigeons, and 

 the Alccdinidce, or kingfishers, may 

 be mentioned among the families 

 of birds which, although generally 

 distributed over the earth's surface, 

 are more largely represented in 

 Australia than in any other region. 

 The pigeons are represented by a 

 large number of species, some of 

 which are very remarkable, such as 

 the very large and magnificent New 

 Guinea Goura, or crowned pigeon, 

 and the brilliantly -coloured fruit- 

 pigeons, abundant in the warmer 

 parts of Australia, where also the 

 kingfisher has its home ; and some 

 of the Australian representatives of 



this group, such as the great brown kingfisher, popularly known as the laughing-jackass 

 (Hacclo 'f'gas), and its allies, are the largest members of the family. The. /'flt/tirfitfo, or 

 more-porks, may also be mentioned among the characteristic Australian families, as well as 

 the Pachyccphalidfc or thick-heads, the Campcphagidtc or caterpillar-shrikes, and the Artamidcc 

 or wood-swallows. The family of the'Piping Crows, commonly known in Australia as magpies. 

 is also a characteristic one, finding its head-quarters in Australia. Families of birds that, 

 though well represented elsewhere, are entirely absent in Australia, are the true finches (/>/- 

 gillider), the wood-peckers (Picida), the vultures {I'ultnridcc}, and the pheasants (Phasianida). 



THK AUSTRALIAN I'll'I.NC (ROW. 



